One man dead, another injured in Boyle Heights shooting

Police said a gang-related shooting late Wednesday night in Boyle Heights left one person dead and another injured before officers shot at the suspects. One suspect was arrested at the scene while at least another suspect remained at large.

Updated April 20: On Saturday, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office identified the person killed as 45-year-old Jesús Martínez Jr, of Los Angeles.

The shooting was reported by various outlets and scenes of the investigation were broadcast on live TV:

The Los Angeles Police Department reported the officer-involved shooting on its Twitter account:

There has been an LAPD Officer-Involved Shooting in the area East Cesar Chavez Ave & N Savannah St, within our LAPD Hollenbeck Area. A Public Information Officer is responding to the scene and we will provide more details as they become available.

An LAPD spokesperson told City News Service that at least one of the suspects was armed with a gun.

“Officers immediately engaged the suspects, and an Officer-Involved Shooting occurred,” the Tweet reads. “The suspects then fled the area, and a perimeter was established. While conducting the search for the suspects, officers located two victims from the originally witnessed shooting in progress.”

One victim was declared dead at the scene and the other was taken to a local hospital. CNS reported the the injured victim was in stable condition. All four people involved –two suspects and two victims– were males, CBS reported.

It was unknown if officers injured anyone in the shooting; no police officers were struck. Police searched for the suspect who fled the scene, with helicopters hovering over the neighborhood around Evergreen Cemetery for several hours past midnight.

Some area residents commented on the noise and the investigation on Twitter:

Omg I’m trying to sleep but the helicopter is up there ☹️#BoyleHeights

Wednesday’s shooting was the second “gang-related” fatality reported in the same Boyle Heights area in less than a week. Police said a man in his 30s was walking on the sidewalk around Cincinnati Ave. and North Evergreen St. just before 8 pm on April 9 when a suspect came out in front of him and fired multiple shots.

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Police told CNS the victim was pronounced dead at the scene and that the suspect fled running through an alley south of Folsom Street and East of Evergreen.

The shootings on April 9 and April 15 occurred about two blocks away from each other in the area Northwest of Evergreen Cemetery, but it is unknown if the two incidents are related. Police said both were gang-related.

Wednesday’s fatality is the third homicide reported this year in Boyle Heights.

About The Author

Boyle Heights Beat is a bilingual community newspaper produced by its youth "por y para la comunidad". The newspaper and its sister website serve an immigrant neighborhood in East Los Angeles of just under 100,000. Read more about our team